BLM Gallops Ahead With Wild Horse Eradication Plan Amid Ongoing Litigation

(CHEYENNE, Wyo., June 25): On June 13, 2024,Eubanks & Associates—on behalf of petitionersAmerican Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign),Animal Welfare Institute,Western Watersheds Project, and other petitioners—notifiedthe U.S. District Court of Wyoming that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is rapidly moving forward with its plan to eradicate over 4,000 wild horses, despite previously arguing to the court that the groups’lawsuitis not timely because no final removal decision had yet been issued.

The filing came less than a week after theBLMreleased ascoping noticefor an environmental assessment to implement contested Resource Management Plan (RMP) amendments. These amendments changed the status of the Salt Wells Creek and Great Divide BasinHerd Management Areas(HMA) to Herd Areas, labeling 4,876 wild horses as "excess" and requiring their removal. The scoping notice stated that removals could start as early as October 1, 2024.

The petitionersargue in the pending lawsuit that the BLM’s decision to amend two Resource Management Plans was unlawful.In response, theBLMargued that the argument was not yet ripe for adjudication by the court, absent a specific removal decision from the agency to implement the amended Resource Management Plans.

“Accordingly, while this case was plainly ripe before now,BLM’s new scoping statement that makes clear wild horses will be forcibly, permanently removed from the public range in several months as a result of the RMP amendments challenged here only further underscores that this case is justiciable and cannot get any riper,” wrote Eubanks & Associates in the notice filed on behalf of the Petitioners.

Oral arguments in this case are scheduled for July 16 in Wyoming. Other plaintiffs in the lawsuit include Dr. Chad Hanson, and wild horse photographers Carol Walker and Kimerlee Curyl.

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About American Wild Horse Conservation

American Wild Horse Conservation (AWHC) is the nation’s leading nonprofit wild horse conservation organization, with more than 700,000 supporters and followers nationwide. AWHC is dedicated to preserving the American wild horse and burros in viable, free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage. In addition to advocating for the protection and preservation of America’s wild herds, AWHC implements the largest wild horse fertility control program in the world through a partnership with the State of Nevada for wild horses that live in the Virginia Range near Reno.

TheAnimal Welfare Institute(www.awionline.org) is a nonprofit charitable organization founded in 1951 and dedicated to reducing animal suffering caused by people. AWI engages policymakers, scientists, industry, and the public to achieve better treatment of animals everywhere: in agriculture, in commerce, in our communities, in research, and in the wild. Follow us onFacebook,X(formerly Twitter), andInstagramfor updates and other important animal protection news.

Western Watersheds Projectis a nonprofit conservation group with over 14,000 members and supporters, as well as field offices across the western U.S. We work to influence and improvepublic landsmanagement throughout the West with a primary focus on the negative impacts of livestock grazing on 250 million acres of westernpublic lands, including harm to ecological, biological, cultural, historic, archeological, scenic resources, wilderness values, roadless areas, Wilderness Study Areas and designated Wilderness.

Eubanks & Associates, PLLCis a public interest environmental law firm that specializes in strategic impact litigation in federal courts throughout the United States.